


Your Hand in Mine

by msmorie



Series: The Underneath [5]
Category: Jrock, X JAPAN
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:47:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23645623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msmorie/pseuds/msmorie
Summary: One-shot fluff taking place during chapter 11 ofThe Underneath 3.
Relationships: Heath (X JAPAN)/Sugizo (LUNA SEA)
Series: The Underneath [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1105776
Comments: 8
Kudos: 15





	Your Hand in Mine

**Author's Note:**

> This particular scene from _The Underneath 3_ kept bouncing around in my head, and I had a few minor plot points that didn't make it into the final story, plus Taiji being crabby and shouting at people is fun, so I decided to do something about them :)

Taiji greeted them with open arms and a cigarette hanging from one corner of his mouth. “Boys! You are a sight for sore eyes!”

“Hey Taiji,” Heath said with a small smile. “Looks like your face healed up nicely.”

“Yeah, well, I think you owe me a beer for nearly ruining my pretty face, kid.” Taiji patted his head patronisingly.

Sugizo grinned. “What’d he do, kick your ass or something?”

Heath caught Taiji’s eye and shook his head slightly but Taiji ignored him. “He nearly killed the guy who shot you. Beat the absolute shit out of him with his bare hands and would have opened up his throat, too, if Yoshiki and I hadn’t stopped him. Cut my face, right here.”

Sugizo looked at Heath as though that were the most romantic thing he'd ever heard, but Heath was embarrassed. “Taiji…”

Taiji gave a big, exaggerated shrug. “What?”

  
  


“Is that true?”

“Is what true?”

“You know. What Taiji said.”

“Oh.” Heath looked down. “He’s… he’s just exaggerating.”

Sugizo pulled him into his arms and pressed his forehead to Heath’s. “I didn’t realise I meant so much to you,” he said playfully.

He meant it in a teasing way but Heath’s arms tightened around him. “Of course you do,” he murmured. He lifted his gaze to meet Sugizo’s before lingering on his lips, drawing a small noise of delight from him when their lips met, kissing him ever so sweetly. Heath was not one for public displays of affection but now he was kissing him in front of everybody without a care until—

“The fuck?” Heath broke off the kiss and looked around, glaring. Taiji was standing a few metres away, armed with a bucket of ice.

“Hey!” he barked. “Take it upstairs and get a room!”

Much to Taiji’s relief, the pair did eventually excuse themselves to go upstairs and get a room, with Sugizo’s hand tightly held in Heath’s. The ride up to Ibaraki from Chiba was a long one and they wanted nothing more than a good night’s sleep in a proper bed, not those uncomfortable hospital beds. Sugizo sat on the end of the bed and gazed up at Heath standing over him in the blue-tinted darkness of the room and Heath leaned down and pressed the softest kiss to his lips. They hadn’t been intimate during the weeks of Sugizo’s recovery in hospital and he was aching for it, especially with how loving and tender they’d been with each other all evening, hoping and wishing that Heath would just push him down onto the bed and fuck him senseless, and his skin tingled in anticipation when light fingers began to undress him. When those hands reached his trousers, Heath laughed softly into their kiss. “Someone’s excited.”

“Oh god yes,” Sugizo breathed. He was just about trembling when Heath removed his own clothes and pulled him into bed with him, relishing the feeling his lover’s body against his own for the first time in weeks, needing to touch and feel him all over, every line and curve and scar, all while Heath continued spoiling him with kisses sweeter than honey. Sugizo pressed his body against Heath’s with a soft whine, begging him for more, begging him to touch him and use him, but Heath shook his head and kept his hands above the waist.

“Please?” Sugizo murmured.

“Not tonight, love. Just sleep. We’re both tired and you need to rest.”

“I need _you_.”

Heath only smiled softly. “You think I don’t want you, too?”

“I can feel it,” Sugizo purred, mouthing at his neck. But as much as he wanted it, Heath would not be swayed and he refused to allow Sugizo to exert himself for fear of hurting him while he was still on the mend. Still, Sugizo could never say no to those kisses and Heath didn’t seem to want to stop kissing him, either. It was a while before they finally drifted off to sleep.

The next time Sugizo opened his eyes, it was still dark. Good, that meant he had plenty of time for more sleep. He felt relaxed and comfortable, more rested than he’d felt in weeks, and he was still feeling warm and fuzzy from Heath’s tender affections. He smiled and rolled over in bed.

Heath was not there, and the other side of the bed was cold.

Sugizo swallowed hard and his heart began to race.

“Heath?” he called out, trying to keep his voice from shaking.

There was no answer.

“Heath?”

The bathroom door was ajar and he could see that it was dark inside. Nothing moved in their suite and there were no hidden corners in the room. He was the only one here.

Sugizo was not given to irrational panic, but he found himself out in the hallway, banging on the door to Taiji and Pata’s room. Inside, the latch rattled and then the door opened a crack. Taiji leaned heavily against the door frame, holding a gun in one hand, and he looked dishevelled and irritable. “What?” he grunted.

“Have you seen Heath?”

A loud, throaty snore came from inside the room. Taiji yawned, rubbed his eyes and squinted in the bright light of the hallway. “Isn’t he with you?”

“I wouldn’t be asking if he was.”

“Fuck, I don’t know. Thought you’d be in each other’s pants by now.”

“I’m fucking serious, Taiji!”

“So am I!” the blond snapped. “Maybe he went out for a smoke? What do I look like, his mother? Jesus.”

Seeing that Taiji was obviously completely useless, Sugizo turned to the next room to look for someone else when they heard slow footsteps from the other end of the hallway and Heath emerged from the staircase, holding a bottle of something—coffee? Milk tea?—in one hand. His face fell when he saw a worried boyfriend, barefoot and wearing only a pair of pants, standing in the hallway arguing with Taiji who was getting more cranky by the second.

Taiji pointed at Heath and looked back at Sugizo with eyebrows raised in an undisguised expression of contempt. “Is that what you were looking for?”

“What’s going on?” Heath frowned.

“Fucking hell.” Taiji slammed the door shut.

“Hey. What’s wrong? What happened?” Heath asked gently, guiding Sugizo back to their room.

Sugizo shook his head and sank down heavily onto the end of the bed with his face in his hands. “I… nothing. I was… I thought…”

Heath sighed, set the bottle on the carpet by his feet and gave Sugizo’s shoulders a little squeeze. “I woke up hungry, so I went out. That’s all.”

Sugizo nodded mutely.

“You were sleeping so well, I didn’t want to wake you. I was only gone for...” Heath glanced at his watch. “...fifteen minutes? Besides, my keys are still here.”

Sugizo blinked and looked across the room. Heath’s motorcycle keys sat on the otherwise bare coffee table, in plain sight. He felt stupid. He had walked past that coffee table to get to the door and would have seen it if he’d only looked. He reached over and squeezed Heath’s hand, and Heath squeezed back. He understood.

* * *

“—four… twenty-five… twenty-six—”

It wasn’t so much the bright sunlight that woke him, but the sound of heavy breathing and grunting, and Heath rubbed his blurry eyes and propped himself up on one elbow. “What are you doing?”

“Working out.” Sugizo was on the floor doing pushups.

“Why? You need to be resting.”

“Resting is the _only_ thing I’ve been doing.”

“Yes, because you’ve had surgery,” Heath said pointedly. He got out of bed and pulled his boxers on, crouching on the floor beside him. “If you push yourself too hard, you’ll just set your recovery back. You know that.”

“I’m fine.”

“I’m worried you’ll hurt y—”

“Heath.” Sugizo eased himself into a sitting position. His face was flushed but he smiled. “You have absolutely nothing to worry about. I’m fine. Okay?”

Heath said nothing, and Sugizo got up for a drink of water and to wipe the sweat from his face. In fact, doing a set of 30 pushups was harder than it should have been. His heart was pounding and it was taking longer than usual to regain his breath; harder still was trying to hide this from a worried Heath. The knowledge that he was out of condition was what drove him to do what he did next.

  
  


“Oh my fucking god.” Even without his gun this time, Taiji looked even more pissed off than he did when Sugizo woke him up last night. “If you’ve lost your goddamn boyfriend again, you’re on your own.”

“Wait!” Sugizo pushed the door open before Taiji could slam it in his face.

“Between Pata’s snoring and you banging on my fucking door all the time, I’m not getting any sleep so this had better be fucking good.”

“It is, I promise.” Sugizo took a deep breath and looked Taiji straight in the eye. “Would you spar with me?”

Taiji stared at him for a second and then snorted loudly. “Why don’t you ask the skinny one?”

“I can’t. He’ll just say no, and even if he doesn’t, he’ll go easy on me and I’ll never get back into shape that way.”

“Huh.” Taiji cocked an eyebrow. “You’re saying you’ll let me beat the crap out of you?”

“Yes.”

“And what happens when _he_ finds out?”

“I’ll tell him I forced you to do it,” Sugizo said, exasperated. “You are hereby cleared of all responsibility. Happy?”

“ _Very_.” Taiji shoved past Sugizo into the hallway.

“Hey, wait!”

* * *

“Again.”

“Sug—”

“ _Again_.”

Sugizo wiped the sweat out of his eyes with the back of one arm. His body hurt, he was out of breath and his singlet was soaked through with sweat but he was running on adrenaline and he advanced on Taiji again. He was able to use Taiji’s own punches against him but he left himself wide open on the right and the older man came back with a blow to the stomach that winded him and sent him reeling back. They’d been going at this for a good thirty minutes but it felt like an hour and all that Sugizo had achieved was learning just how much condition he’d lost after spending eight weeks flat on his back. Again and again they went through drills, holds and throws; normally Sugizo’s skill and speed made him an excellent match for Taiji’s strength and aggression but not this time. The way he moved made it clear that he was in pain and tiring very quickly, and Taiji easily exploited the way that he kept favouring his injured side.

“Again.” Sugizo gritted his teeth.

“No.”

“Taiji, please?”

“You need to stop.”

“I’m fine, I can go on.”

“You’re bleeding,” Taiji said bluntly. “You tore your stitches, genius.”

Sugizo looked down, astonished. A small red spot had appeared on his sweat-soaked singlet. Fuck. He sank to the floor on his knees, breathing hard. All the fight in him was gone. His lungs and throat burned and the pounding in his ears was making his head spin.

“Jesus Christ, Taiji, what the fuck have you done to him!”

It was Heath’s voice and he tried to look up but his vision swam and then a pair of arms enveloped him, and Heath looked up at Taiji accusingly.

“Don’t look at me,” Taiji retorted, folding his arms across his chest defensively. “It was his idea. I called it quits when this dumbass started bleeding.”

“God,” Heath said under his breath. “Why didn’t you listen to me?”

“Check his stitches,” Taiji said. “I think he might’ve torn ‘em.”

Sugizo tried not to wince when Heath gently pressed the edges of the wound, and Heath frowned. “I think it’s okay. Stitches are holding, but the wound’s opened up. I’ll help you get cleaned up and patched—”

“I’m _fine_ ,” Sugizo said a little more brusquely than he meant to. He pushed Heath’s hands away and stormed off.

Taiji watched him go with raised eyebrows. “Who shat in his cornflakes?”

Heath just sighed, and Taiji cast him a sidelong glance.

“Something going on between the two of you?”

“No.”

Taiji made a soft, derisive scoff. “So you’re telling me that he always freaks out when you go to the convenience store by yourself.”

Heath looked at Taiji helplessly and then looked away. He swallowed. “I… was going to leave him. After he woke up at the hospital in Chiba.”

“You _what_?”

“He’s almost been killed at least twice because he’s with me.”

“So?”

Heath avoided the older man’s gaze. “Well… if I could keep Sugizo out of danger, is that such a bad thing?”

Taiji said nothing for a long time. Presently he shook his head slowly and gave Heath a withering look. “You’re a fucking idiot.”

* * *

“Are you mad at me?”

Sugizo looked up. Heath was leaning against the doorframe with a guilty expression on his face. He looked down again. “No.”

“Here, let me…” Heath started forward to help Sugizo re-dress his wound, but he withdrew when Sugizo shook his head.

“I’ve got this,” he said shortly.

“Okay.” Heath’s heart sank and he retreated away from the bathroom. “I’m sorry.”

Sugizo winced and pressed a hand over the gauze taped to his chest. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, he was really feeling it. He groped for the little packet of painkillers beside the bathroom sink and swallowed two pills dry.

He felt a keen stab of guilt when he found Heath sitting on the end of the bed with his hands clasped tightly over his knees, looking like a kicked puppy, and pulled him into his arms.

“I’m so sorry I snapped at you,” he murmured into Heath’s shoulder. “Forgive me?”

Heath laughed shortly but it came out sounding like a sigh of relief. He ran his fingers through Sugizo’s damp hair and kissed his forehead. “It’s okay. Really.”

“I’m not mad at you. I’m frustrated at myself. I just feel so useless.”

“I know. I felt like that when I was laid up with cracked ribs. I get it. Just…” Heath sighed. “I wish you’d stop being so hard on yourself. Please?”

Sugizo nodded glumly. “But I hate just sitting around doing nothing.”

“Nobody’s saying you have to do nothing,” Heath said gently. “Just don’t go all out. Start at one and work your way up to ten.”

“I’ll try. You can say _I told you so_.”

“You’re pouting,” Heath teased him.

Sugizo sniffed. “So were you.”

“So… why did you go to Taiji? Why didn’t you ask me to spar with you?”

“Why do you think?” Sugizo said dryly. “Because I knew that Taiji wouldn’t hold back, unlike you.”

Heath smirked. “It’s not like I haven’t hurt you before.” His fingers lingered over Sugizo’s skin, touching a spot on his forearm. “I cut you here… and here…” Heath traced a line across the back of his hand, and then leaned in and playfully drew his tongue across Sugizo’s neck. “...and I _almost_ cut you here.”

Sugizo swallowed hard, his breathing shallow, trying not to enjoy Heath’s teasing too much.

“And then I shot you here…” he pressed a kiss to Sugizo’s left shoulder where a pale scar still remained, “...and here, too.”

Sugizo had to hold his breath and bite his lip when Heath dipped his head and kissed a spot on his upper thigh, letting his teeth graze over his skin before Sugizo growled, pushing him down onto the bed and climbing on top of him, kissing him roughly and sliding a hand up underneath his shirt.

“N...no, Sugizo,” Heath whispered breathlessly even as he arched beneath his touch. “No, stop.”

“Fuck no.”

“You’re not— _nngh_ —ready yet.”

“The hell I’m not.”

Heath pushed him off as gently as he could. “Not yet. You’re still hurt.”

“No, fuck that—”

“Shh,” Heath murmured, easing Sugizo onto his back. “Just relax and let me take care of you.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'll leave it up to your imagination as to how Heath takes care of Sugizo. Share your thoughts in the comments! ;)


End file.
